1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a direct print system, a printer and a digital camera (inclusive of a portable information device having the function of a digital still camera, an example of which is a mobile telephone equipped with a camera) that construct this system, and methods of controlling the printer and digital camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an image is printed, a printer is connected to a personal computer and image data is transmitted from the personal computer to the printer. The image represented by the image data is printed by the printer. The general practice is to connect the personal computer and the printer when an image is to be printed. If an image that has been captured by a digital camera is printed, image data representing the image is stored once in the personal computer.
In recent years, however, it has become possible to connect a digital still camera and a printer directly as by a cable without using a personal computer and to transmit image data from the digital still camera to the printer, thereby enabling the image captured by the digital still camera to be printed by the printer. Such a system is referred to as a so-called “direct print system”. There are also available direct print systems that not only transmit image data by wired communication between a digital still camera and a personal computer through use of a cable but that also transmit image data by wireless communication (see the specifications of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 10-257119, 2003-165253, 11-88815, 11-46331 and 2002-111947).
However, encrypted communication cannot be performed unless information such as WEP-KEY is set in order to construct a direct print system utilizing wireless communication. Further, in a case where printers are connected on a network and a large number of devices have been connected on this network, image data cannot be transmitted to a specific printer unless the destination of the transmission is specified.